The world is changing faster than we can keep up with these days. Every day, there’s a new crisis to pay attention to, more salacious details of our reality TV-esque political situation, and a slew of new rules and regulations that are being announced minute to minute. It’s like watching something go viral on Twitter—ehrm, X—in real time. The reality is, we’re in an era of shifts, some for the better, and we’re all doing our best to adjust.
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When it comes to adjusting, larger brands and corporations are trying their hardest to navigate an increasingly complex socioeconomic landscape, and sometimes that means us consumers are left to foot the bill. Due to the looming threat of tariffs, record inflation, and climate crises the likes of which we’ve never seen before, our food system is being pushed to its limit. Beef prices have reached record heights, and even eggs are costing us a shell of a lot more (pun intended).
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As if that wasn’t enough, our tried-and-true chocolate bars might end up costing us an arm and a leg, too. The Hershey Company confirmed on its earnings call this past Tuesday that it would be raising candy prices to combat rising cocoa costs. The price adjustment is said to be a “low double-digit increase” and will affect products across the company’s portfolio.
“This change is not related to tariffs or trade policies,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. “It reflects the reality of rising ingredient costs, including the unprecedented cost of cocoa.” Due to an ongoing global cocoa shortage, cocoa prices have skyrocketed in recent years, reaching a whopping $8,402 per metric ton in June. Add in a heatwave and heavy rains, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
While the brand didn’t specify an exact amount of the increase or a date that the price change would occur, it did underscore its decision to lean into creating new items that are significantly less chocolate-intensive than their current cocoa-filled lineup. Only time will tell if this is a change that reverberates across the chocolate industry, but we might want to stock up on Reese’s Cups just in case.
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